Pacific Odyssey

Book excerpt: A Part Synopsis of Pacific Odyssey Lane The book is something of a Travelogue with a deal of Adventure thrown in. It is also a multi-faceted Love Story. The setting is in the Far East Singapore, Borneo and New Guinea (or more properly today Irian Barat) and briefly in Papua. The period is around 1970 to 1980ish although this is a moveable feast according to the readers preference. The plot concerns Lane Martin, a pretty young English girl, and her husband Paul, an electronics wizard based in the Singapore offices of the British Electronics Corporation, a wholly fictitious business concern. The two are about to embark upon a lengthy holiday aboard the cruise liner Pacific Explorer. There is a lot of eating and drinking of good food, fine wines and - iron rations (!) scattered throughout the story, commencing with the famous Raffles Hotel in Singapore. Paul is an experienced pilot and owns his own Cessna 172, 4-seater aeroplane in which they fly, via Kuching, to join ship in Banjarmasin. Pilots will hopefully fly with them, whereas non-pilots will have an insight into the marvels of aviation and, who knows, some may take up the past-time? Those who have no experience of Maritime voyaging may well enjoy the luxuries of life aboard the Pacific Explorer, perhaps even those who do have the experience might find, somehow, a kinship with the passengers. If you have been crew you will know what it costs to provide both former and latter with the pampering entailed. However, our passengers are clearly enjoying the amenities of the ship and the wonderful ports they visit. Sadly, even the best must bow to the likes of a short, swarthy man of middle-eastern appearance. I wont spoil the fun. Suffice it to say our intrepids, Lane and Paul, find themselves, quite suddenly, in a different sort of boat. Now they must learn the art of survival under extremes of conditions. Lane has lost her sight, how is in the story! And this is where the excitement really begins.....